Wednesday April 11, 2007

GSG Assembly meeting Wednesday April 11, 2007

Attendance for GSG Assembly Meeting April 11, 2007



Representatives & voting delegates present:

Charles Butcosk (ART), Alex Ntelekos (CEE, proxy for Juan Nogues), Robert Scogna (CHE), Christopher Crutchfield (CHM), Tom Zanker (CLA), Stephanie Wang (ECO), Silvia Newell (GEO), Zachary Chitwood (HIS), Yaron Ayalon (NES), Kevin Collins (POL), Susan Robison (PSY), Aryeh Amihay (REL), Cori Anderson (SLA), Bart Bonikowski (SOC) Nicole Brunda (WWS), Neven Fuckar (AOS), Robert MacGregor (HOS), Daniel Raburn (PPL)

Delegates present: Neven Fuckar (GCO), Lisa M. Schreyer (RLC), Tara Kitley (CPC)

Officers present: Shin-Yi Lin (Chair), Silvia Newell (ParSec), RobertMacGregor (CorSec), Marina Paul (RecSec), Daniel Raburn (PressSec), Alexandros Ntelekos (Treas), Jenny He (SocCh)

Councilors present: Shin-Yi Lin (CPUC, EXEC), Jeff Dwoskin (CPUC, PRI, Facilities), Benjamin McKean (CPUC, RES), Daniel Raburn (CPUC), Karing Sigloch (CPUC, EXE, RRR, H&L)

Others present: Grace Wang (Chem), Can Sun (CCSA), Mike Sekora (ACM), Ryan Harper (REL)

Representatives & voting delegates absent: Christian Bienia (COS), Clara Tuan (EAS), Ryan A. Chisholm (EEB), Ilias Tagkopoulos (ELE), Petra Spies (GER), Robert Harron (MAT), Praveena Joseph-de Saram (MOL)

Delegates absent: Dante Ricci (BUT)

Officers absent: - Councilors absent: Kellam Conover (CPUC), Jesse Salazar (CPUC), Joy Sinderbrand (GOV), Sharon Bzostek (JUD), Christian Bienia (PRI), Aaron Levine (RRR), Donna Sy (CampusRel)

Representatives & voting delegates vacancies & inactive seats: ANT, ARC, AST, COM, ENG, FIT, MAE, MUS, ORF, PHI, PHY, SPO, ACM, OPR, BGC, WOC

Delegate vacancies: HIB, LAW, MIL, OFF, ACSS, CIGS, APGA

Councilor vacancies: AcadAff

Agenda

I. Call to Order and Assembly Business

A. Seating of New Assembly Members - Silvia Newell

II. Decision Items

A. CPUC Elections -- Silvia Newell

III. Reports

A. Chair’s Report - Shin-Yi Lin

B. Update of GSG Constitution Webpages -- Dan Raburn

C. Department Report -- Plasma Physics

D. Department Report -- History

E. Changes in Birth Control Cost -- Silvia Newell

F. Shuttle Report - Jeff Dwoskin

G. Firestone Library Discussions - Yaron Ayalon

IV. New Business

A. Update on Eligibility of DCE Students for University Fellowships

B. GC Dining Hall Issue

C. Awareness of Campus Events

i. Speak-out campaign

ii. Campaign against organ harvesting in China

I. Call to Order and Assembly Business

The GSG Assembly meeting began at 6:08 pm.

A. Seating of New Assembly Members

Kevin Collins is now the representative for the Political Science department (POL)

II. Decision Items

A. CPUC elections

Elections took place via voice vote for officeholders in the following subcommittees: General (5 positions), Priorities (2), Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities (2), Judicial (1), Governance (1) and Resources (1). All of the following candidates were voted in by voice vote.

Some of the candidates were sent statements by email. See CPUCStatements.pdf.

General committee members: Jeff Dwoskin (ENG), Elizabeth Bakanic (SOC), Grace Wang (CHM), Chris Said (Sciences) , Yaron Ayalon (Near Eastern Studies). Since all four core academic divisions (SCI, SOC, ENG, HUM) were represented, all five candidates were elected by voice vote. [Post-Assembly meeting addition to Minutes: After the meeting, Grace Wang and Shin-Yi Lin, ex-officio member of the CPUC, were elected to the Executive Committee of the CPUC by the other general CPUC members.]

Priorities subcommittee members (2 available positions) – both of the following candidates were voted in by voice vote; however see minutes from May 2007 Assembly meeting: Jeff Dwoskin (EE, outgoing Pri-comm rep), Ryan Harper (REL)

RRR subcommittee members (2 available positions) –Grace Wang (CHM), Chris Crutchfield (CHM)

Judicial subcommittee member – Bart Bonikowski (SOC) - voted in by voice vote, uncontested

Governance subcommittee member – Mike Sekora (APPLIED MATH) voted in by voice vote, uncontested

Resources subcommittee member – Ben McKean (POL) – voted in by voice vote, uncontested

III. Reports

A. Chair’s Report

Direct quote from Shin-Yi Lin (Chair):

Exec has been working this month to transition between the new and old Exec. I’ve also attended the Graduate School’s Student of Color Recruiting weekend early in April. Dan has been working to update the online text of the GSG constitution and by-laws online to incorporate changes that were put in by Assembly during the past two years – primarily regarding the running of GSG Exec elections and sections about the GSG fee. Please double check the URL that I sent to Assembly and email Dan if there are any problems by next Friday.

B. Update of GSG Constitution Webpages

Dan Raburn (Press Sec) informed Assembly that he has updated the web-pages of the GSG Constitution and the bylaws to reflect changes that were voted in by Assembly during the last 2 years:

He's updated three web pages:

The constitution / by-laws page:

http://www.princeton.edu/~gsg/constcurrent.html

The page listing amendments to the constitution / by-laws:

http://www.princeton.edu/~gsg/byamend.html

The page which links to the constitution and by-laws:

http://www.princeton.edu/~gsg/constitution.html

* This was a very minor change, changing the text of the link to the page <http://www.princeton.edu/~gsg/byamend.html > from "Amendments to the By-Laws" to "Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws," since amendment XIII (GSG fee increase) applies to the Constitution.

C. Department Report -- Plasma Physics

Daniel Raburn gave a general introduction to the program, mentioned that one particular issue of concern to students is transportation from the off-campus lab site to campus.

D. Department Report -- History

Zachary Chitwood said that Professor Tony Grafton, Professor of History at Princeton University, recently had an AHA research publication about undergraduate students being shortchanged when encouraged to apply to graduate school despite the low job placement. This has prompted the department to undertake better recordkeeping of data such as admissions statistics and job placement.

E. Changes in Birth Control Costs

Silvia Newell brought up the resulting changes to the University’s coverage of birth control due to the recent 2005 Federal Deficit Reduction Act. As a result, the University is no longer able to receive federal subsidies on birth control costs.

UHS posted this announcement in January 17, 2007:

“As a result of changes to the Federal Deficit Reduction Act, institutions of higher education no longer qualify for special reduced pricing for contraceptive supplies. Pharmaceutical companies will now be charging colleges and universities nationwide significantly higher rates for these supplies.”

(http://www.princeton.edu/uhs/news/news.html#birthcontrol)

Silvia has been in correspondence with Daniel Silverman, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Student Health Plan (SHP). He clarified the following:

Princeton University is no longer able to get the original federal subsidy.

2. As SHP participants, all grad students are automatically enrolled in the Medco Pharmacy Benefit plan (as their prescription drug plan) and contraceptives are covered – this can help to defray the cost of prescription birth control once students meet the $100 deductible. [The deductible is the amount of eligible out-of-pocket expenses that must be paid first by the enrollee for pharmacy prescriptions before benefits become payable by the the Medco Pharmacy Plan.] Your Medco Pharmacy plan (prescription coverage) deductible is $100 beginning each September 1 of the plan year.

459 students (graduate and undergraduate) obtained prescription Birth Control through UHS (during the time period from 9/1/06 to 3/31/07) and thus are thus affected by this change.

He also gave us an idea of current costs:

Previously, the costs were $6 per month or $72 per year with the federally subsidized plan. The new costs are taking into account the Medco deductible and discount.

Retail 30 day supply

Generic = $5 per prescription or $60 for the year + the $100

deductible = $160

Brand = $20 per prescription or $240 for the year + the $100 deductible = $340

Home Delivery - 90 day supply available through Medco

Generic = $10 per 90 day supply or $40 for the year + the $100

deductible = $140

Brand = $40 per 90 day supply or $160 for the year + the $100

deductible = $260

Alex Ntelekos (Treasurer) suggested this could be an issue to address for this summer’s letter writing campaign. Several members commented that very short notice was issued to birth control users and the Princeton community as a whole.

F. Shuttle Report

Jeff Dwoskin (CPUC PriComm representative, Facilities Chair) updated Assembly about the proposed modifications to the shuttle system for January 2008, and said that more details will be available next month. See Shuttle.pdf.

Significantly increased weekday frequency during both peak and off-peak time periods
Better connectivity between different parts of campus, such as palmer square, and dinky
Weekend service to campus and shopping centers
An on-site manager will be hired
Limited weekday service to Forrestal
Possibility for late night, on-call, etc
More adaptable system

The following concerns/questions were brought up in Assembly about the proposed changes:

· Charles Butcosk (ART) asked whether the environmental impact will be considered.

· Silvia Newell (Parliamentary Secretary) asked whether there would be an update service about late or broken down buses.

· Aryeh Amihay (REL) mentioned that some graduate students may prefer extended coverage over frequency of coverage for the weekend shuttles.

G. Firestone Library Discussions

Yaron Ayalon (NES) spoke up about the potential for improvement in the following areas:

Upgrading book detection:

Possibilities would include either replacement of guards at the entrance/exit with detectors that would detect coded strips in all books, or supplementing the current security system with the detectors/detector strips in addition to keeping on the guards
Is there a plan for the library to re-purchase of lost/stolen books

Cataloging/searches– many books are not coming up on searches
Lack of a library etiquette or culture – both students and staff need to adhere to quiet behavior in the library and be considerate of those studying.
Currently there is no library cafeteria, which could be a desirable addition

This could it be modeled after Chancellor Green

Rare books and Special Collections – copying of these books is almost prohibitively expensive
The current Guest policies make it difficult to get guest permits or allow visitors to view the library

Comments and suggestions for improvement from attendees of the Assembly:

Charles Butcosk (ART) mentioned it is often difficult to find out what rare books are actually available.
Extended Library hours

·      Stephanie Wang (ECO) said the layout of books could be improved

IV. New Business

A. Update on Eligibility of DCE Students for University Fellowships

Dean Schreyer updated Assembly on the issue of eligibility of DCE students for University fellowships that had brought up in a previous Assembly meeting. She informed everyone that second-year DCE students are not eligible for University fellowships, but are eligible for department fellowships.

B. GC Dining Hall Issue

Alex Ntelekos (Treasurer) brought up that there are signs up at the GC dining hall about how the students are subject to random bag searches to prevent food from being taken out of the hall. While he found this a valid concern on the part of the Dining Office, he was not happy about the harsh tone of the flyers and the signs.

C. Awareness of Campus Events

i. Speak-out campaign: Dante Ricci (Butler) wanted to promote Speak Out, an event that deals with Sexual assault and Rape prevention and awareness. There will be a T-shirt Campaign next week (they will be given out Thursday). Some will be given out at the GC.

The final event for the Speak-out campaign is Promoting Take Back the Night.

ii. Campaign against organ harvesting in China -- [Minutes unclear here] A representative from the Chinese Human Rights Forum brought up a campaign against organ harvesting in China.

[Minutes did not note when the meeting was adjourned.]

Minutes completed by Marina Paul.

Minutes approved on Wednesday 9/19/07 at Assembly meeting.